SRSU Library's QuickSearch: What is it and why use it?
To join this conversation on February 22 at 2:30 PM via Teams, check your SRSU email for the link!
Introduction
The first computer-based catalog systems were developed in the late 1960s and early 70s. These early systems, called OPACs (online public access catalogs), replicated and extended the functionality of the card catalogs they were intended to replace in providing a method for users to search the holdings of a particular library. The term discovery system has come into use in the early 21st century to describe public-facing catalogs which use the technology of internet search engines to expand the scope of the traditional OPAC to include not only library-held content, including entries for journal articles and book chapters that were not typically party of traditional library catalogs, but also material held elsewhere which may be of interest to patrons.
Early systems were often developed internally within libraries and had limited searching functions. It was not until the 1980s that more user-friendly commercial products became available. The SRSU Library's discovery system, QuickSearch, is a product provided by EBSCO called EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS).
Learning Outcomes
As a result of participating in this session, you will be able to:
Background Readings
Akeroyd, J. (2017). Discovery systems: Are they now the library? Learned Publishing, 30: 87-89. (PDF)
Bossaller, J. S., Sandy, H. M. (2017). Documenting the conversation: A systematic review of library discovery layers. College & Research Libraries 78(5).
Coyle, K. (2016). The evolving catalog: Cataloging tech from scrolls to computers. American Libraries. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2016/01/04/cataloging-evolves/
Dahl, M. (2009). The evolution of library discovery systems in the web environment. OLA Quarterly, 15(1) 5-9.
Key Terms